II Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”
I Corinthians 4:7 “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”
Psalm 139:13-14 “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”
I Corinthians 15:9-10 “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me.”
Our hearts are quick to trust in ourselves, but our actual self-sufficiency is not up to the task as God reminds us in II Corinthians 3:5. It is clear and powerful to consider that all our raw material comes from Him (I Corinthians 4:7). God plainly reminds us that our skills, our smarts, and our strengths are gifts from Him.
As a young Christian, I fully understood that God had given me the raw material of my life. After all, He had formed me from my mother’s womb. Yet, I errantly retained a bit of credit for my situation in life. After all, while God had given me much, I had worked hard and wisely to develop it. As a result, God deserved some of the credit, but so did I. It was around that point in my spiritual journey that God confronted me with the following from the Apostle Paul that is well worth restating from above:
“For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me.” (I Corinthians 15:9-10)
Wow! Paul shares with us that his motivation to work hard was a God-given-gift.
That means that while God deserves full credit for our raw material, He also deserves full credit for the ability to develop that raw material. Our relationships, our circumstances, our opportunities, and even our motivations are from Him. All our sufficiency is from Him and this truth must be engraved in our hearts.
PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD FULLY UNDERSTAND OUR COMPLETE RELIANCE AND DEPENDENCY ON GOD. Whenever we accomplish something, remember the important truth – it was yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me!
ADMIN: I won’t be publishing a PLUS blog next weekend, but please keep praying faithfully for widespread revival in the United States of America while trusting in God completely for our sufficiency!
